


In The Secret

by clipper782



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Beauty and the Beast Elements, F/M, Kylo Ren Needs a Hug, Kylo Ren Redemption, Magic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:20:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23588311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clipper782/pseuds/clipper782
Summary: When Rey goes on a probably doomed mission to scavenge treasure from an old said-to-be cursed castle, she didn't expect to be trapped in said cursed castle indefinitely with a Dark Lord. Especially not one who, honestly, doesn't seem very dark at all.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 5
Kudos: 18





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So the title is a reference to a religious song, but heck it, it's about Reylo now. Sorry, I don't make the rules, maybe don't write songs that sound like you want to bang god, yeah?
> 
> Anyway, not sure if there will be sex later on because I haven't written that far yet, so I'm going with the M rating for now. Not low enough to get people invested that don't want sex, but not high enough to lead people on who really want to read a story with sex. That's how I'm gauging it anyway *shrug emoji*.

The dilapidated old castle certainly didn't look like much. It may have been made of sturdier stuff than what they used nowadays, but standing as it had for hundreds of years with no one to care for it hadn't been kind to it. Still, it stood. There was no question to it being structurally sound. All logic would dictate this place had long since been picked through for any treasure it may have contained.

_Some say the spirit of Lord Vader still haunts that place. No one who's gone in has ever gotten far, or if they did, they've never returned... But the place is filled with secrets, who knows what form they may take?_

Rey didn't have the time or the patience for old tales. Though if she were to say the possibilities didn't frighten her, she would be lying. Either the old Lord's castle had been picked through of anything of value and she was wasting her time, or there was a reason it wasn't and she was in considerable danger. Oh well, not like she hadn't been in danger before.

Most would think her a fool for even trying, but there wasn't much else she could do now. She was an unfortunate grown street urchin if she was anything. She was a scavenger. She'd picked through the city, through the sites of old battles, through towns and homes of people long dead, or at least long gone. She'd never gotten much of a reward for any of it, being that she was under the control of Unkar Plutt for the majority of her young life. Now she was grown he'd decided she wasn't so useful to him anymore and she'd been forced to make her own way. She knew places she could go to find something, but the thing about scavenging was that eventually, valuables ran out. What had lead her here to the old Lord's castle was simple desperation.

Or at least, that's what she had thought at the time.

Rey used her staff, a long sturdy and versatile thing that served as her only weapon, to cut through the overgrown ivy on the castle's entrance. It seemed nobody had come through here in a while, at least not through this way. She looked around, wary of falling into some sort of trap. She couldn't hear anything, but the sounds of birds chirping in the trees. Old Vader's castle was tucked away deep in the forest, separated from those he ruled over by miles of rugged untamed road that had become too narrow to fit a carriage through. Of course Rey didn't have a carriage, if she did, she'd sell it. It wasn't too difficult for her to walk through the forest. After all she did have a fairly large stick.

The door was heavy, an amalgamation of metal and wood, which she could tell was at least partly copper from the fact that parts of the metal had turned green. That could possibly be melted down if she could remove it. It seemed thick enough.

But the door would be there when she returned. It was not the end goal she had come for. Though Rey didn't know whether she should be thankful or worried that the door seemed to not have been touched in the intervening years. Either nobody had come, nobody had bothered or... 

They were like her, but hadn't returned.

No. Those were children's tales. Rey was no longer a child. Plutt had assured her of that. Though even he had expressed reluctance with the idea of coming here. Certainly he had never had her, or anyone else, do it all the years Rey had known him.

Taking a deep breath she steeled herself and pushed against the door. Then pulled against the door. The door wouldn't budge. It didn't seem to have any sort of handle or locking mechanism. Was it barred from the inside? It seemed likely, but it wasn't like there was any sound of strain, not even the slightest millimeter of movement. The door just didn't move. Like it was glued down or...

She ran her hand down the crease between the door and the stone wall it was inset upon. The stone was solid and unyielding. Someone had really attached a false door to an indented stone wall. She didn't know whether to be exasperated or impressed. No wonder no one had come through this way.

But there had to be some way into the castle. Really a big entry door would be too obvious for a castle filled with centuries-old secrets wouldn't it? So, replacing her staff in its place on her belt she set off to search the rest of the castle's perimeter. Her heart was beating fast, but at least it would be a challenge.

*

“Oh! Young Master do you see?”

Kylo Ren, Lord of the Darkness, Heir to Darth Vader knelt, in deep meditation in the underground chapel. The odd masked helmet he wore made his voice sound strained and distant. “Do I see what, Threepio?” Certainly the droid wouldn't be referring to the visions he had during meditation, strange fleeting things he tried desperately to grasp but could never quite fully understand.

“Oh, young Master, it's a girl! A scavenger from the looks of her--”

“What girl?”

“Well, I don't quite know myself but--”

“Here? At the castle?” They should have stopped coming years ago. His wards at least kept the majority of them from ever even finding the place and... “She won't find her way inside.” They never did.

“Oh, I'm afraid she already has! Yes, I believe she's found the entrance through the cellar. What a resourceful young woman, don't you think young Master?”

He was already on his feet, brushing off his deep black robes and cape, though even through his meditation the remained pristine. No one ever came in through there. No one ever came here. It wasn't right. He strode, with a confidence he didn't quite feel over the uncertainty in his mind, making his way towards the castle's storeroom. Lucky for him it was just through the dank unused levels of dungeon space and servants' quarters. 

“Oh! Master Solo--”

“I told you not to call me that!” He rounded on Threepio. For a droid he certainly didn't follow orders very well. Well, none of them did really. One of Grandfather's eccentricities he supposed. Making mechanical creatures to do his bidding but then also giving them the ability to not listen. “I want you to go upstairs and prepare...” Prepare what? What was he going to do with a girl? There had been no one for so long... “Prepare a stately meal, fit for the finest of guests.”

“Oh, right away, Master! Oh my! Guests!”

At least someone seemed happy about it. He'd need to be prepared for this girl, this scavenger who had somehow wandered into his domain. What would he say? What would he do? He'd had it figured out by the time he'd reached the storeroom. He was a Lord after all.

He was not prepared.

The girl had wrenched open one of his barrels, presumably with her quarterstaff, and was sitting on the floor, looking through his vintage wine bottles while eating an apple from said barrel. His opportunity for his big Lord of Darkness speech was blown when he instead blurted out with “You can't eat that!”

She looked at him in abject terror, scrambling to her feet and drawing her staff on him, apple still in her hand. She wouldn't drop it. She'd known what it was like to go hungry.

He put his hands out to block whatever attack may have come, but none did. He didn't think to draw his sword on the girl, for some reason.

She just stood there, stance ready, eyeing him up and down. “Who are you?” She asked finally, not relaxing a bit.

“You have come to my domain and you ask me... You think you can ask me who I am? I should be asking who you are, seeing as how you have entered my castle without permission.”

The girl, no, the young woman drew back, but in the crowded storeroom there weren't many places for her to escape to. “You're... Are you... Lord Vader?”

So she knew that much, did she? How long had it been? “Lord Vader was my Grandfather. I am Kylo Ren, Lord of Darkness. I am the Heir to Vader's power.”

The fear on the girl's face remained, but it was joined by a confusion. Ah. So she didn't know that much. It was a comforting, if somewhat disappointing thought. Kylo Ren wasn't known to this girl. Not yet. “I haven't heard of Kylo Ren. But Lord Vader died centuries ago. No one has even been here... No one has heard from or seen anyone from here for centuries. How could Lord Vader have a living grandson?”

Kylo Ren smiled to himself bitterly under his mask. “Has it truly been that long?” Maybe. Not quite. “You entered my domain when you passed my wards. How does Lord Vader have a living grandson? In your world, he doesn't. In my world...”

“Your world?” She didn't believe him, he could tell. It wasn't like she was trying to hide it. “What do you mean your world? I walked here, it isn't a different world.” He didn't respond. “I only came here because I thought this place was deserted, but I don't want any trouble with... Nobles...” The way she said it made him think she doubted his story about being Vader's grandson. He couldn't exactly blame her, given what she knew. And he certainly didn't look like any noble he had met before. He was a dark knight, a Lord of Darkness. “So I promise I won't take anything.” She eyed his sword, still un-drawn in its scabbard. “And you can let me go?”

He would. He really would. He wasn't a monster. Or... maybe he was, but he would have let her go. “It doesn't work that way. If you could leave this place, don't you think I would have done so long ago? No. I'm afraid passing my wards and entering my castle has made you just as stuck as I am now.”

“I don't believe you.”

“You will.”

*

She should have just pulled the metal off the fake entry door and left. Why was it so foggy out? It hadn't been when she had come here. It had been clear, bright, if a little off. The air was off here. Had it been that way before?

Whatever, it didn't matter now. All she had to do was make her way out of the castle grounds. Not that she really wanted to wander the forest in the thick fog, but she might have been freaking out, just a little at meeting a strange masked knight who referred to himself as the Lord of Darkness and called the castle his domain. Who did that? That was not a thing that happened except in fairy tales and her life was certainly not a fairy tale. She was a scavenger not a princess, not a knight, and certainly not the victim of some displaced curse castle.

The fog seemed to thicken the deeper she walked into the forest. She almost wanted to turn around and go back, take her chances with the so-called Dark Lord. But she didn't have to, because as soon as the fog began to lift she found she had returned to the castle. She had walked in a straight line hadn't she? It was the same path she had come on. It hadn't had any twists and turns when she'd first arrived.

So she tried again. And again. Leaving from a different part of the castle grounds, walking into the woods where there was no path, closing her eyes and slamming into trees, she tried to leave until her legs were sore, and then she tried even more. She ran, she walked, she crawled, even tried to jump over where she felt the barrier would be but to no avail.

It was dark out, and the castle still loomed over her, much more sinister now. More terrifying. Maybe if she just went to sleep it would all have been a dream. Yes... She was so tired. Sleep was a great idea...

Vaguely she felt the sensation of being lifted into someone's arms. Huh, even as a child she'd never been carried like this. She turned into the arm of whoever was carrying her meeting only cold armor. Even his hands were cold. No, gloved. His face... Oh, there was no face. It was that damned mask. Kylo Ren.

“Do you believe me now?”

She grumbled, too tired to argue. “I'm Rey.”

The man stilled for a moment “What?”

“My name. It's Rey. I thought you should know. Since I know your name and all.” If it was possible the man carrying her tensed up further. Oh, she was stuck with him now wasn't she? There had to be others, right? It couldn't just be him. She tried to ask, but her words caught in her throat. She'd been doing so much talking and she was just... So tired.

“You missed dinner. Do you know how late it is?” He seemed to come to a decision. “Sleep.” 

She slept.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey wakes up in the castle and has to get used to her strange situation and her strange new host.

When Rey awoke it was in the most comfortable bed she had ever had the pleasure of sleeping in, which wasn't a hard bar to pass, seeing as how having a bed at all was a win for her most nights. But it was so soft and warm and her head fit right into the pillows. The bed even had a canopy. It was perfect.

If only everything else would be perfect. The pleasure of the comforts she had received were quickly replaced with a feeling of glowing dread. If she were here, in a place like this then surely the previous day's antics had not been a dream. It had all been terrifyingly real and she was truly stuck in an ancient castle with a... Was he even a man? The mythical Dark Lord grandson of Vader who lived in his own realm and used ancient magic? Could she call someone like that human?

“Beep!” She was interrupted by the sound of... something. A something that rolled into her room at high speed, through an open doorway off to the side. It was brightly coloured in orange and white and seemed to be made of metal. Rey looked around it, reluctantly pulling herself out of the bed, her feet dangling over the edge. It didn't seem attached to anything. How was it moving? How was it... beeping?

“Beep!” It beeped again. It was holding tray on its... head? Which Rey gingerly took and put on the bedside table. Lifting the lid she saw the tray held bread which had been sliced and lightly toasted and buttered, along with a teacup and teapot alongside a small cup of cream and a bowl of grapes. So at least there was food here, other than apples and wine. She had been more than a little surprised to see perfectly preserved fruits in a centuries old cellar but the apple had certainly tasted like an apple, and the food she ate now certainly tasted like food. How did they get food here? Maybe it was better not to ask.

“So... Do you have a name?” The food tasted like food at least. Better than what she got working for Unkar Plutt. She wasn't sure exactly what she was talking to, but it seemed like it could be alive. Somehow. The only response she got however was a short series of beeps which, of course, she did not understand. Rey sighed lightly. She didn't know what sort of witchcraft of magicry this was but the creature was kind of... cute? Maybe? She pat it on the head and it beeped happily. Or at least it sounded happy.

“Do you work for that man? Kylo Ren?” More beeping. She wasn't sure why she kept asking questions she couldn't get a proper answer to, but maybe the facsimile of a conversation was better than facing the reality that she was trapped in a magical castle with a man she didn't know and... Where was that man anyway? “Do you know where he is?” 

“Beep!”

“Can you take me to him?”

“Beep-Beep!” The little creature started to roll away and Rey quickly got up to follow, noting that she was still in her now dirty and stained clothes from the day before. The clothes were light and not too loose, and they didn't tear easily, so they were good for exploring. Not so great for passing out in the middle of the forest but...

Oh. _He_ had carried her all the way back to the castle. He had used his magic on her to make her sleep. He had brought her to this bedchamber. Likely he had sent the little metal creature up with the food. Why? Was it his will to keep her prisoner here? Where was her staff when she needed it? Had he taken her only weapon?

“Beep?” The little guy had made his way back to her side when he seemed to sense she had stopped following him. She walked to the doorway leading to the outer solar. 

“I'm fine I just...” Her staff was there, perched by the outer door which presumably led to the rest of the castle, which was a relief. Another relief, though it slowly laced itself with a cold dread, was that someone had seemingly laid out a light tunic dress, which was a very slight, almost white blue, for her to wear, along with a note on the table. 

_I don't generally keep women's clothing around but I will get C3PO to find whatever is still laying around the place to put in your wardrobe. -KR_ Her wardrobe? There was a wardrobe off to the side in the solar, but it wasn't hers. She couldn't be expected to stay here. She'd just have to have a long talk with the 'Lord' of the castle about that, preferably with the length of her staff between them. Though attacking a Lord was not a great idea in the best of circumstances, and one like this? He could probably do a lot to hurt her. She shuddered lightly. He hadn't yet, but... She didn't want to think about that.

Maybe he'd even be reasonable. Not likely. But maybe.

Rey changed into the new dress, not bothering with any modestly in front of the little creature. It certainly didn't seem human enough to warrant any such treatment in any case. She left the old clothes on the chair, a pretty ornate hardwood thing, cushioned in red velvet, and, out of curiosity more than anything, went to the wardrobe.

Whoever, or whatever, C3PO was, they had certainly done what Kylo Ren had apparently asked, because the wardrobe was filled with robes and dresses of every shock of colour she could have imagined. These had just been 'laying around the place'? Well, it was a castle but... 

Rey tried to remember, in the old stories she had heard, had Lord Vader ever had a wife? Had there been a Lady of the castle? It didn't seem familiar, but if he had a grandson with a claim to his title, he would have had to have had a wife. It wouldn't surprise her to know the stories hadn't been completely accurate, but there was clearly magic in this place, and dark magic at that. She didn't know how she could tell these things, but it was what it was. And Kylo Ren had referred to himself as the 'Lord of Darkness' and had mentioned Lord Vader's 'power' and somehow she didn't think he had meant political power when he said that.

She closed the door to the wardrobe. What an absolutely insane situation she was being placed in. How could she possibly think to try working things out? Well, there wasn't much else she could do. There was a window set in the wall on the other side of the room, but the shutters seemed to be locked shut. Maybe it was another thing like the door, where there was no window there at all, but she could feel a slight breeze coming in through the cracks in the shutters. There had been small windows in the main chambers as well, but the were inset too high in the wall for Rey to see out of, so she wasn't exactly sure whereabouts she was situated. 

But why bother with windows when there was a door? She was just putting off the inevitable at this point, but the idea of another confrontation, of trying to get answers, of undoubtedly being told that no, she could not leave... It wasn't exactly something she looked forward to, but certainly it had to be better than staying in and hiding away indefinitely.

The metal creature beeped again as she joined it at the door, grabbing her staff from the wall. She must have looked a little odd, in a soft princess dress, holding her staff like the scavenger she truly was. Like she was in a terrible disguise. A false princess. She didn't like it.

There didn't seem to be any way to open the door, which seemed to be a recurring theme of this castle, but the creature at her side somehow dislodged a cord from its own body, plugging into a receptacle at the side of the door frame, which had been somewhat hidden by the pattern of bricks in the wall. There was a clicking noise and the door's locking mechanism released. 

“So you're my key are you?” Predictably, the response was a series of beeps. Rey quirked her brow and smiled down at the little guy “I do wish I had something to call you.”

“That, my dear, is BB-8. He was created by the Master, Gods rest his soul, along with the rest of us droids.”

“Droids?” The creature... droid? That had spoken to her certainly looked more human in appearance than the other. BB-8. But he was very definitely not human. “What is a droid?” She shook her head. No. That wasn't important. “Who are you?”

“I am C3PO. I was created as a personal assistant to serve House Skywalker.” Oh so that was C3PO. Well, at least it wasn't an actual human guy given access to the room she was sleeping in to drop off a bunch of fancy clothes. But then again, Kylo Ren had been there too, and...

“Wait, did you say Skywalker? Like... Anakin Skywalker?”

“Oh yes. Master Anakin was the one who created us! I am afraid however, if you are looking for the Master, he has long since passed on...” That was not surprising. That tended to happen over periods of hundreds of years. “But if you are looking for the current Master, I can certainly take you to him.”

“I... Yes. Please. Take me to him.”

*

_Who is this girl?_

There was no response.

_What is the power she has? Where does it come from? Why is she here?_

Still no response.

Kylo Ren shot up from his meditation, letting out a noise between a sigh and a growl, before slashing his sword over the alter candles to snuff out their flames. He rarely ever got any responses any more and when he did, it was never anything he wanted to hear. Yet the voices wouldn't shut up when all he wanted was to be left alone with his own thoughts. It was beyond frustrating, but he had managed to survive for this long, hadn't he?

But he had survived alone. Never had someone with the same powers stumbled across his castle, his prison, not before the girl. Rey. Who was she? Why was she here? And he didn't mean why did she think she was here. Things like this didn't just happen by coincidence. She was here for a reason, she had to have been brought here for a reason, allowed into his domain, trapped here like he was.

“Who is this girl?” He pulled his blade back, shutting his eyes as he slashed down towards the alter. “Who is she?” His arm absorbed the recoil as his blade was stopped by the stone and he hit it again and again, taking in that pressure and letting it out with the feeling of his arm slicing through the air. He was thinking too much, he was feeling too much, he seek something else so it would stop and... He was brought out suddenly by the sound of his name. His _old_ name the one he had thought he'd said not to use. He was about to turn on the droid before he realized what he was saying. Who he must be talking to,

“Ah well, Master Solo is just in one of his moods. Terribly sorry about that. I'm sure he will--”

“Rey.” And of course it was Rey. Looking at him with a mixture of shock and fear and... Was that derision? She was looking down on him? Well... Could he blame her, really? He felt a cold shame creep over him, which he didn't quite understand, because it wasn't like he knew this girl. It wasn't like he cared what she thought of him. He'd met her yeterday and she had done nothing but steal his apples and threaten to attack him. Why should he care?

But clearly he did care. Which was terrible. Caring never led to anything good. He'd been around long enough to know all about that.

“Lord Ren. Or is it Solo?”

“It's not.” He couldn't take it to hear that name from her. “And it's Kylo Ren, not Ren. Ren was...” A dead man. “Its Kylo Ren.”

“Lord Kylo Ren, or just Kylo Ren?”

“Whatever you'd like. I won't be bothered if you don't call me 'Lord'” It wasn't like he'd ever felt like much of a Lord anyway.

The girl, the young woman, who he just now noticed was wearing the dress he had left for her, stared at him silently, clutching her staff. She hadn't drawn it, but she was being cautious. “I have a lot of questions for you, Kylo Ren.”

He nodded, solemnly, sheathing his sword as he realized he still had it out, which was not good sense for building friendly relations. “I'll do my best to answer them. I have questions for you too.” Rey seemed to accept this. “Come with me.”

He had to fight off the very real urge to look behind him as he left, to make sure she was following. It wouldn't do to be so open.

*

Did this Lord just always wear his masked helmet? It wasn't like he was going to be fighting anyone trapped alone in a magical castle with no one else around. Maybe he had some sort of facial deformity or injury he was self-conscious about? But if he was alone, that wouldn't matter either. Rey couldn't imagine BB-8 or C3PO would have anything to say about it if that were the case anyway. 

She hadn't made any comment on his behaviour in his odd shrine room, and he didn't mention it either. It was clearly nothing she had been meant to see, but it did put her on edge. It had clearly been a violent reaction to something, but there was no one else there. Maybe it was just a mystical dark lord thing. Yeah, that was... Probably it.

He brought her to a parlor room which looked like it hadn't been used in ages, though it was somehow not covered in decades of dust. Maybe they had cleaning 'droids' here too. It certainly didn't seem like there were any other humans in this place.

“So. Where do you want to start. I'll let you ask me whatever you'd like, since you must be... Confused.” He didn't seem evil, sitting across from her in his ridiculous outfit like, tense like he'd never had a guest over before, which he very likely hadn't.

Rey didn't really know where she should start. There were a lot of questions she wanted to ask. “You really can't let me leave?”

“I can't. This prison is not entirely of my own making. If I could leave...”

“You would. I know... But why am I here?”

“I don't know. Nobody should be able to get in here. You must have a power within you. A resonance with the spirit world--”

“Magic?”

“If that's what you call it, yes.”

“I would think I'd know if I had magical powers.” She scoffed, but it was only barely hiding a nervousness that had been growing ever since she had arrived. She wouldn't be here if there wasn't something there.

“Not necessarily. Your powers might be latent, or they might just be subtle. Perhaps you've used them before, but you didn't know at the time.”

She wanted to say it was absurd, but she couldn't. She'd survived a lot of things as a child that she wouldn't have thought she could have, looking back. Had avoided a lot of danger, perils of being a penniless orphan child. And how even as a child her scavenging always seemed to turn up something, no matter how picked clean the target area was.

“So... I'm here because I have secret powers? Is it just a mistake then? I'm stuck here forever because I was in the wrong place at the wrong time?” It might have been the worst of all possible options, because there would be no way to get out.

“I... I don't know.”

“There seems to be a lot you don't know.” She remarked dryly. It was hard to gauge his reaction from behind his mask, but she hoped she wasn't pushing him too hard. She didn't want to end up like that alter, that was for sure.

“That's... I can tell you about this place. I... I can teach you about your powers.” He seemed to light up, shooting up suddenly, making her draw back slightly. “Maybe, if you let me teach you... Eventually we can use our powers together, to free ourselves from this prison.”

“You want... To teach me magic?” It wasn't exactly how she had imagined this conversation going but it certainly wasn't the worst idea she could think of.

“Maybe that's why you're here. To learn from me.” He moved towards her, standing only a few feet away. “The power that I have... The things I could show you... Yes, that must be it. I can sense the power that sleeps in you. I don't know why, or who you are, but you have a great potential. Perhaps even, together, we could be unstoppable.”

Unstoppable? Oh yeah. Lord of Darkness. He probably had some evil plans for when he got out of this place. “Why were you trapped in this place anyway?”

“Why?” He moved away again, only slightly, but it was enough to be noticeable. “It is a long story. I don't really want to talk about it.”

“What did you do?”

“Terrible things.” She waited for him to elaborate, but he didn't.

“And you want me to join you? To learn from you? Help you escape from this place?”

“It's the only hope you have of escaping this place too.”

Rey frowned. That was true enough. And she was stuck here with him after all. “So I'm trapped with a man I don't know with powers I cannot comprehend, who I know nothing about, who won't even elaborate on the 'terrible things' he's supposedly done, whose _face_ I don't even know--”

She fell silent as his gloved hands moved to his helmet. Not a single part of him was uncovered, yet. Rey took a deep breath in as he began to pull the mask from his face. Time seemed to freeze in that moment, and then it was done. His mask dropped to the side and she looked into his face. Nothing could have prepared her for what she saw. 

He was just a man. Young looking and handsome, at that. His eyes looked sad. She had imagined they'd be hard or monstrous or oddly coloured or somehow evil but... That wasn't the case at all. She was aware she was probably gaping at him, but what exactly did he expect, looking like he did?

“Why do you wear that mask?” Maybe it wasn't the most pertinent question and maybe it wasn't the right thing to say, but it was the first thing she thought that her brain deemed appropriate enough to pass her lips. And it was a fair enough question, she thought, given there seemed to be no practical reason for it.

“It's...” Kylo Ren walked slowly to a small round table at the edge of the sofa he had been sitting on and placed the helmet on it gently. “It isn't something I have to wear. Not anymore at least. I guess I've just become used to it.” He paused, as he sat back on the sofa, staring across at her again. “You don't want me to wear it, do you?”

She didn't know what she should say to that. Certainly not that she wanted him to wear it, but how would it sound to admit she didn't? “I would prefer to see the face of my only human companion, yes.”

Kylo Ren nodded, which was somehow a relief to her. “That's fair. I... Will do my best to accommodate such requests.” They sat there in an awkward silence a moment longer. “You'll at least think about my proposal? To teach you?”

Rey gave him a half smile, “Its not like there's much else to do around here.”

“I can show you around? If you want?” Now that she could see his face, she could read his emotions a lot better. Though she could hear the hope from his voice alone, even that had been somewhat distorted by his heavy mask.

“That would be nice.” It really would be, she supposed. A big castle like this would certainly have something to interest her and she wouldn't have to do any scavenging to get it either. “But... I do have one more question.” In truth she had a lot more questions, but they could wait. “Why did C3PO call you Master Solo? And he also said he serves House Skywalker... So, are you a Skywalker, a Solo, or a... Ren?”

“I'm not a Ren.” His eyes seemed to harden, his body tensing, as he turned away at the question. “Kylo Ren is... Not the name I was born with. But its the name I go by now.” His eyes softened just as quickly as they had hardened, the deep sadness returning to their depths. “Maybe I was a Solo once. And a Skywalker too. But that's all in the past now.”

She decided not to press it any further, at least not right away. It was clearly a very sore subject for him. How had a person like this become a 'Lord of Darkness' consigned to be imprisoned for eternity anyway? The stories only ever told of Lord Vader... Maybe she could ask more about him later too but... Not now.

Rey stood up from her seat on the chaise and held her hand out to the still seated Lord. “Now about that tour...”


End file.
